What’s that you’re doing, Mr. Ollmann?

“I’m using what’s called a borescope to inspect the inside of an engine. A borescope is a tool that works like an endoscope used in medicine and has a thin, flexible tube with a camera at the end of it, which transmits live images onto a screen. I insert the tube into the engine through a small opening to see if all the fan blades are in perfect condition. We have just finished putting the engine together and completed a test run. I’m taking one last look now just to make sure that none of the fan blades were damaged in the process. This job generally takes about eight hours because an engine has 18 or 19 separate turbine discs, and each disc has about 80 fan blades that need checking. When I’m done, I can usually note down that everything was in good working order, but I do sometimes discover signs of wear, cracks or fractures. When this happens, I replace the damaged fan blades with new ones.”